Saki

Saki (Season 1):  C

So I think I saw "Saki" as a name that popped up on like every one of my favorite seiyuu's pages over the course of surfing to see what else they were in, but it wasn't til it became a popular tag on an image board that I frequent that I went "huh I suppose this is popular, I should watch it."

What I didn't realize is that the series is about Mahjong in a big way, and that following the series is reaaaally hard if you don't know anything about Mahjong.  So I watched the first nine episodes, stopped, got Diablo 3, played that for three weeks, learned about Mahjong, and then watched Saki.  There may have been a few unnecessary steps in there.

Saki is about the mahjong club at a high school and its attempts to get to the Mahjong nationals.  The series is up front with the fact that it's taking place in a different time/parallel universe where Mahjong is more popular than it is here.  The characters are alive and have personalities and hopes and dreams and getting to know them is entertaining.

What I can't shake is the sense that Saki targeted at older gentlemen who know their Mahjong and like watching a parade of girls blushing at each other and very pointedly not making out even though perhaps they should be for the sake of their own health and happiness.

Saki has some strong Yuri elements, is really what I'm saying.  They're not bad, but they're not explored in any way which would make them fascinating to the viewer.  The series' fan service quotient is fairly low, at least in the traditional sense of 'panties, huge breasts and lots of skin,' but fairly high in the moe category (they even hit one of my personal moes, heterochromia).  Aside from that sense and the fact that every so often Mahjong is such SERIOUS BUSINESS that I burst out laughing, Saki is actually pretty good entertainment.

If you're interested in what amounts to a sports anime about Mahjong (which will help you learn about it, if you get yourself a bit of a basis) and either enjoy or will tolerate the lesbian schoolgirl aspects and moe aspects, I recommend Saki.  If any of that sounds like you'd be either bored, confused or creeped out, this is not for you.